Bill > HRes1299

This Resolution, titled the "21st Century ROAD to Housing Act," comprehensively alters federal housing policy, banking regulations, and consumer finance laws to expand housing supply, modernize mortgage programs, and increase regulatory oversight. Among its key provisions, the legislation establishes various pilot programs and grants to encourage affordable housing development, streamline environmental reviews, and support home repairs and infrastructure improvements, particularly in rural and economically distressed areas. It also reforms the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service, and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME)—a federal block grant program that helps states and local governments fund local affordable housing strategies—while making adjustments to manufactured and modular housing standards. To protect individual homebuyers from corporate competition, the legislation restricts large institutional investors—defined generally as for-profit entities that control 350 or more single-family homes—from purchasing additional single-family residences. Furthermore, the Resolution addresses banking and currency by easing certain regulations for community banks and credit unions, such as adjusting reciprocal deposit limits and supervisory testing thresholds, while explicitly prohibiting the Federal Reserve from issuing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which is a digital form of a country's sovereign currency issued directly by the central bank.